FIX: Error message when you synchronize a merge replication in a replication topology that contains two or more re-publishers in SQL Server 2005: "21997 Failed to allocate new identity range"

Consider the following scenario:

• You set up a merge publication in SQL Server 2005.
• The merge publication contains an article that has an identity column.
• You set the Automatically manage identity ranges property for this article to Automatic.
• Two or more republishers subscribe to this merge publication.
• Finally, you create a merge replication between a subscriber and one of the republishers.

In this scenario, when you synchronize the merge replication, the synchronization fails. Additionally, you receive the following error message:

The fix for this issue was first released in Cumulative Update 4. For more information about how to obtain this cumulative update package for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:Note Because the builds are cumulative, each new fix release contains all the hotfixes and all the security fixes that were included with the previous SQL Server 2005 fix release. Microsoft recommends that you consider applying the most recent fix release that contains this hotfix. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:Microsoft SQL Server 2005 hotfixes are created for specific SQL Server service packs. You must apply a SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 hotfix to an installation of SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2. By default, any hotfix that is provided in a SQL Server service pack is included in the next SQL Server service pack.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

For more information about what files are changed, and for information about any prerequisites to apply the cumulative update package that contains the hotfix that is described in this Microsoft Knowledge Base article, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

For more information about the list of builds that are available after SQL Server Service Pack 2, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about the Incremental Servicing Model for SQL Server, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:For more information about how to obtain SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about the new features and the improvements in SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2, visit the following Microsoft Web site: For more information about the naming schema for SQL Server updates, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:For more information about software update terminology, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: